Saturday

Today I did the upper body section of the Kathy Smith Lift Weights to Loose Weight video and some of the ab exercises from the tape and some of my own. Gotta run.

Thursday

Today I did a Leslie Sansone Video Power Firm from the library. It's 20 minutes and includes a warm up, standing and mat leg exercises and a cool down. It's great, won't kill you or make you sweat like crazy. You can do it with ankle weights but I didn't. I have some 2 1/2 lb weights I will use when it gets to easy. Today I feel really good!! The pain isn't bad at all. It's been really bad recently. The guys aren't working on the neighbors siding today. I hope they don't come. The noise and dust is so bad we had to close all the windows and it was 85 yesterday.

I checked my bp Tuesday and it was 128/79. It's getting lower! Yea! Every morning I've been having a banana mixed up in the blender with a cup of milk and sometimes after dinner. The bananas and exercise seem to be helping.

Last night I noticed some bruises on my stomach near me hip bones(on on each side), I think they are from doing the pilates move swimming. UGH! Down with pilates. Long live yoga and weights. I do need to do some cardio. I'm going to get some Leslie Sansone Walking videos from the library. Back to work.

Wednesday

Hi.
     I did the Hillary Burnett video again.  It's just to tough.  I give up  on pilates.  It makes me to tense in the face and hurts things worse.  Maybe if your very thin and have little muscle tone it's easier?   

I will keep with the 3 ball videos I have.  I think they give you a better ab workout anyway.  I'll sell my 2 pilates videos on eBay.  I did the Denise Austin book's weeks 3 and 4 upper body exercises.  I think there are fewer exercises than the first section.  It said to to 15 reps but I think that's to many, I'll just do 10 next time. 

Last night I ate 3 strawberry poptarts.  Oh well.  I'm no saint.  They were good.

It was pretty hot yesterday and it's hot again today.  UGH .  Not much else to say.

Monday

Hi.
     Today I mowed the lawn.  That's enough exercise for me. 

Bye

Sunday oh what a funday

As I've said before it's been very hot recently.  Well yesterday it got up to 94.  It was so hot in the house.  But last night it cooled off by the time I went to bed it was really nice.  I had my bedroom window open.  The pain was so much less, so I stayed awake for a while just lying in bed felling not to bad for once.  Treasuring it.  Then today at 7 am the guys came to work on the back of the neighbors house, they stayed until 6pm!  I am very tired. 

This morning I did the Hillary Burnett Mind Body Mat Video (from the library).  I can't do it easily buy I did it.  After there is a "powerstretch" with music.  It was kind of like flowing yoga routine, it was fun. 

When the pain is really bad I will try to think of last night and how much better I was feeling and hope that time will come again. 

Hotter than Hell Friday

Oh it's so hot today.  It's supposed to be 93 or 95, who knows.

Wednesday I didn't exercise.

Thursday I did some lower body and ab exercises on the ball and then the SYFFZ upper body workout out weeks 1 & 2 with 3 lb weights.  I did it in my room instead of the livingroom because C (dog) was feeling ill and limping.  I started to feel lightheaded before I was done.  It's just to hot up there.  C is fine today, I guess M (older dog) bit his paw Wednesday night when fighting for a scrap of bread. 

Today I bought Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit Abs for just 99 cents.  It's 40 minutes which seem like a lot so I hope it has 3 different workouts.   Gotta go cool off.  Bye for now.

Balance on the ball

Last night I watched the Denise Austin Shortcuts for Legs and Buns.  It looks pretty good, but I like to do my ball videos.  There are 2 10 minute segments and one 15 minute.  She has two very young ladies demonstrating the exercises. 
 
Today I did the Balance Ball beginners tape then I did the week 1 & 2 upper body weight exercises from the Denise Austin book while sitting on the ball.  I used 3 lb weights.  The weights aren't to easy yet so I'll wait awhile to move up to 5 lbs.  I'm getting starting to get good definition in my shoulders and upper arms.  The abs exercised are really good on this video.  I'm going to get Balance on the Ball from the library.  It's hot and muggy again.  UGH!  Back to work for me.

Sunday BBQ Day

In the morning I did the Gin Miller Flex-a-ball workout tape.  It's slower than the Karen Voight ball workout, and has some different exercises like ball wall squats.  Then I did the upper body weight exercises from the Denise Austin SYFFZ book.  I was able to do 12 push-ups with my knees on the ball!  I must be getting stronger.  Yesterday I reserved the 10 Minute yoga workouts by Barbara Currie from the library.  10 minutes is doable everyday, I'll make sure I try to do it.  BBQ was good, I'm stuffed.  It's very hot again and rained for about 5 minutes at 10am or so, so It's still very humid.  It was still 77 degrees last night at 11:15 when the weather report was on, I'm sure it's pretty hot today.  Yesterday's high was 83.  I've got some work to do so bye for now.    

I didn't work out at all yesterday.  My thighs are still sore from the lower body of steel video.  It didn't do anything for my buns so I'm not bothering with it again. 
 
I went to a large neighborhood garage sale and walked around for a few hours.  It's very hot and muggy so that was quite a workout.  I got three pairs of coolmax above the knee exercise shorts and 3 pairs of capri length exercise pants all like new and only 50 cents each.  Now I will quit buying so much stuff, I promise myself this time!  Unless I get down to a size 8 then I will get only jeans and pants, everything else (bras and tops) should still fit.  There are supposed to be thunder showers at midnight and tomorrow the weather supposed to be bad.  I just with it were cooler and not muggy.  We have a whole house fan in the furnace, it helps some but evenings are the worst.   I hope it's nice tomorrow, I'm going to this old fashioned BBQ I go to every year and the weather's never been bad once. 
 
When I was looking in my drawers for space to put the clothes in, I found an old pair of shorts I will giveaway.  I have lots more stuff to go through, and there are tons of kids clothes under the stair I really need to giveaway and not to mention tons of stuff in the spare room.  But not today, it's to sticky  Sigh! 

Thursday

Today I did the Lower body of Steel video.  I felt tired in the legs earlier, but no sore butt.  I hope it's sore tomorrow or it was a lot of work for nothing.  I bought a Zumba Latin cardio beginners tape for only 99 cents.  Sound like fun, I'll try it tomorrow and do the upper body weigh work from the Denise Austin SYFZ book.   Bye for now.

Wednesday Doc's Appt

I went to the doctor today. I was lucky to get in so quickly, I just called yesterday and got an 11:55 appointment today. I have a staff skin infection, and have to take keflex for 10 days. I weighed 135 lbs officially on the balance beam scale and had 140/90 blood pressure. I'm sure that after I've lost a few more pounds my bp will get down below 130/80 that it should be at. At least I hope so. It's nice to know my scale at home is accurate, I'm very glad to weight 135. The lady who weighed me was extremely fat over 300 lbs I would say. She huffed and puffed just sitting, how awful that must be. It's always amazing people working at a health clinic can be so fat.

I bought a Stott Pilates essential matwork for beginners (2nd edition) video for only $2.50. I'm looking forward to trying it. Back in the fall of '02 I read some books about Pilates and got a video from the library, but it just seemed to hard. So that's how I got into yoga instead. I do really want to learn, I'll try to do it tomorrow morning. I do have a method tape I thing it's precision yoga or something, but I've never tried it, it looks like a lot of Pilates and I just don't know how yet. After I've learned how to do it then I'll be able to try the method tape, I think it has 3 different workouts. I think they have a different Stott tape at the library but it takes forever to get most of the pilates videos, they're just so popular.

Well it's late and I've got a little work to do and it's getting late so I'll blog again soon.

Tuesday

On Saturday night I did the Yoga Zone Yoga for weight loss video. Well not all of it, it's to hard. There are to many sun salutations and downward dog. The veins were sticking out in my upper arms one time I was doing downdog so I stopped and just did some other poses. The tape was actually 40 minutes of 2 ladies showing the poses and Al Bingham talking them thru it then there was 20 minutes of Al with Lisa Bennett showing poses and modifications and how not to do it, kind of a refresher. I watched it all, but won't do it again. It's not good for my blood pressure to do all that repetitive upside down stuff.

Sunday I took a break from exercise but I did buy a nice full size aerobic step with two risers for only $3.50. It's so big though I kind of regret it. I think using the ball is more challenging but I went and cleaned it up so I'll just have to use it.

Monday I did the Karen Voight BLT on the Ball video then I did all the upper body week one and two exercises from the Denise Austin Shrink you Female Fat Zones book with 3lb weights sitting and laying on my ball. I got the book at the library a few weeks ago, it's got lots of great exercises. I bought an old Kathy Smith lower body toning video new in the shrink wrap for $3.25 and a Tamilee Webb Lower Body of Steel video for 99 cents. Today my arms aren't sore, just a little tired. I thought I would be more sore, it seemed tough when I was doing it. It got up to 81 yesterday and it was very humid, it's supposed to be 76 but I bet it'll get hotter than that. I may do candlelight yoga with Sara Ivanhoe today, we'll see. Her voice is anoying but I like the poses. Bye for now. I'll blog again soon.

Saturday

Last night before dinner I did the Balance Ball tape for lower body, then I did upper body exercises with weights sitting and laying on the ball. Today I am only sore at the hips, from the video I think. The video wasn't very hard, I like the beginners tape of Upper & Lower body & Abs better that came with the ball. Maybe I'll get the upper body from the library. Today I bought Yoga Zone Yoga for Weight Loss for only 99 cents! I've had it from the library, it's 2 20 minute sessions. I've been wanting that tape for a while, I was glad to find it. I'll do both sessions on it tonight before dinner. This morning I weighed myself, I only weighed 132! Wow. From the time I was 21 years old until 2 1/2 years ago I always weighed about 150, 157 at an all time high in March '01. I am finally less than the 135 lbs (lie) on my drivers license. When I was a junior in High School in the fall I was on the swim team and had an in school class of aerobics and weight training, I weighed 126 that was 15 lbs down from before. For senior prom I was able to wear a size 9 dress after loosing a little to fit in it. I am motivated now to keep going and be in better shape. I wear size 10 jeans now and at my heaviest it was size 14, now those are yard pants. Yea for Me!

Thumping Thursday.

Well just when the worst of the road work had moved a block down the street at 8am roofers came to redo the neighbors roof. UGH. They are very loud and seem to be taking forever. They argue a lot, perhaps the are related. I hope it won't take too many days.

On Sunday when I did the BLT video I had to pump my ball up again because it was so low. Well yesterday it was low again, and I used it anyway now I have sore knees. I went to Target (yesterday) and got a new ball. They had some 65cm balls that were only $8.77 (wow very cheap) but that's to big, I needed a 55cm $30. The new one is fine, I'll use it tomorrow. I'm going to reserve the Cardio Fitball video from the library. I watched it once but didn't do it. It has really lame music but I think it'll be fun. Big Brother is on tonight, I wonder who the twins are somone I know said there may be more than one set.

It's really hard to work from home when there is so much noise outside! I'll blog again soon. Bye!

Big bang day

This morning at 2am I woke up to a huge explosion and then heard a car horn honk twice. My little old hard of hearing dog even heard it, it was THAT loud. I looked out the front and back to make sure there was no fire. Couldn't see anything. Well today it turns out that someone blew up the sani-can they are using for the road construction. I can't believe they left it out there by the street this weekend, honestly how dumb.

After I got up today I did the Karen Voight BLT (Buns Legs Tummy), it was very short only 20 and didn't see very hard. I'll know tomorrow. After that I did upper body weight exercises while sitting or laying on the ball. Before I started I noticed that my exercise ball was getting flat so I had to pump it up more, the younger dog went nuts, guess he thought it was for him. It is harder to hold still on the ball and lift the weights! I'm going to get "The Great Bodyball Handbook" from the library for more weights on the ball exercises. I think the Suzane Deason Balance ball beginners workout is harder than Voight's BLT, at least the abs seem to burn a lot more even though the pace is a lot slower, it's 40 min. More like Pilates. I think there is a Gin Miller ball tape that' supposed to be more challanging, I'll look at Collagevideo.com. Bye!

Friday

Since losing weight I need new things that fit so today in the afternoon I went shopping and got a microfiber no wire Body by Vicoria bra from Victoria's Secret and some black low rise (but not to low) yoga pants from Old navy. The traffic around here is just awful, it takes so long to get anywhere. They're still tearing up the streets nearby so it's dirty and noisy too. The fireworks haven't been to bad. One family (Mormons of course) were setting of fire crackers this past Monday night, other than that they haven't been on my street. The indians must be making a lot of money selling the illegal kinds, it's the only place you can get firecracker in Washington of cousre it's illegal to set them of unless you on tribal land. My 6 year old dog will totally freak out on the 4th of July, the 12 year old dog is pretty deaf so they won't bother him to much. I remember one year they were both sitting on my lap shaking! It was heavy they weight 30 lbs and 75 lbs. Bye for now.

Thursday (Almost Friday) !!

They've been doing lots of road construction near my house the last few days, it's so loud and the traffic is backed up. I hope it's over soon. At least they're not tarring the road.

On Tuesday night I helped my mom while did they video Shaping up with Weights for Dummies. She had trouble doing the squats and lunges right. She did pretty good for being a total beginner. Then Wednesday morning and this morning she walked for half and hour. She's been eating to much for the past year and has gained some weight. She seem to like walking and I hope she will keep with it. I help her do some easy stretches when she gets home from Denise Austin's Shrink your female fat zones. I got it at the library.

Yesterday we made lemon frozen yogurt in the electric ice cream maker, it turned out really well. And we went to the opening of Whole Foods in Bellevue. It's a natural foods type upscale grocery. So much hype! We only got some Guinness Stout. Ugh, I had a bottle last night. Turns out it's made in Canada, not Ireland like I expected. Maybe regular Guinness is better, it's supposed to have anti-oxidants according to an article in the Seattle Times but if it's terrible I'm not drinking it. I rarely drink, it always seemed alot more fun in college when I was underage but even then I didn't go nuts. My older sister drank in college (we all went to the same school) and even met 2 different guys that upon finding out she was my sister told me she had physicaly chased them when drunk. I haven't spoken to her in years, but I hope she doesn't drink alot. I also think grandpa drank to much, but he did live to be 86.

Today my grey long sports bra from Road Runner sports came, it's great lots of support and it goes to the waist. It will be good for doing my Karen Voigt BLT on the ball video. Mom got some Gap boot cut Khaki jeans they aren't to low at the waist, she just needs to shorten them. Pepsi Smash is on tonight, Los Lonely Boys will be on. I really like them, they remind me a little of Stevie Ray Vaughn, they play great guitar. They always have some newer groups I've never heard of but end up recognizing some of the songs anyway. And Hetty Waithrop Mystery is on PBS tonight, I don't think I've seen it before. Be good. Gotta go.